This invention relates generally to medicine cabinets of the type used in residential dwellings and the like to store medicines and toiletries, etc. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved medicine cabinet constructed predominantly from molded plastic components and providing a highly versatile shelf geometry, an improved self-closing hinge assembly, and an improved mirror door for receiving and supporting a glass plate mirror in a secure and stable manner.
Medicine cabinets are known for use in storing medicines and toiletries, etc. in residential dwellings. Traditional medicine cabinets have commonly comprised a shallow and forwardly open cabinet housing constructed as a metal stamping and adapted to fit into the wall of a residential bathroom or the like during the construction phase. A mirror door is hingedly mounted at one side of the cabinet housing for swinging movement between closed and open positions, with a magnetic or friction spring catch being provided to hold the door in the closed position. When closed, the mirror door supports a mirror formed typically from glass plate in a position for convenient use in the application of cosmetics, shaving, and other toiletry prodecures. In the open position, the mirror door exposes the cabinet interior which includes an array of shelves for supporting medicines and toiletry articles.
Although medicine cabinets of the above-described general type having been extremely well-known for many years, the traditional cabinet construction incorporates a variety of inherent limitations and disadvantages. For example, while some cabinet designs have permitted some adjustable selection of shelf position, prior art cabinets with adjustable shelves have generally been limited to an array of shelves spanning the full width of the cabinet interior. Accordingly, when one or a small number of relatively tall articles such as a bottle containing mouthwash or the like is stored within the cabinet, it has been necessary to provide an entire shelf with sufficient clearance to accept the tall bottle. This approach has unfortunately resulted in significant wasted space within the medicine cabinet, since the user rarely has a sufficient number of tall bottles to occupy an entire shelf width.
In addition, previous medicine cabinet designs have incorporated a significant number of metal components which can deteriorate due to rust in a damp bathroom environment. In some cases, this failure mode has been recognized and addressed by the use of a plastic material to form the cabinet housing, but metal components have still been used to form hinges and catches associated with the mirror door. The use of such metal parts in the cabinet construction is further undesirable since they contribute to noisy operation when the mirror door is opened or closed.
Prior medicine cabinet designs have also encountered difficulties in providing secure and stable support for a plate glass mirror on the mirror door. More particularly, the glass mirror is typically sandwiched between a door baseplate and a lightweight peripheral frame, with the combined structure of the baseplate and frame cooperating to support the comparatively heavy weight of the mirror. A cardboard backing is normally placed between the mirror and the baseplate to provide a spring action pressing the mirror firmly against the frame. Unfortunately, this arrangement exposes the fragile mirror to nonuniform retention forces which contribute to mirror breakage, especially during shipment of the medicine cabinet to a construction site. Moreover, in the damp bathroom environment, the cardboard backing tends to lose its resiliency over a period of time, such that the glass mirror becomes loose and is thus exposed to increased risk of breakage.
There exists, therefore, a significant need for improvements in the design and construction of a medicine cabinet, particularly with respect to improved versatility in the arrangement of adjustable shelves, an improved hinge assembly designed for long term and silent operation, and an improved mirror door construction for safe and stable support of a glass plate mirror. The present invention fulfills all of these needs and provides further related advantages.